This series of images is from the set of Bautismo, a short movie by Mauro Vecchi that tells the story of Roman and Nora, two young latinos living on their own without any landmark, in the challenging urban environment of Milan. The suburban streets and parks are the centre stage, becoming a private jungle under the shadows of the tower blocks. This is where our protagonists find a safe heaven from the hermetic reality of the bustling and crowded metropolis, in which they find themselves misplaced, collateral, invisible. 

At the same time, these places embody a symbolic echo of their homeland and of an ancient and primitive past, from which the initiatory ritual draws its roots. The “baptism” in a local latin gang is seen as the only way to find acknowledgment of their identity and a place in society.

The movie explores the primal instinct of belonging, even if it means losing one's identity. One aspect that inevitably drives to friendships as wrong and deviant as they may be, appearing in their minds as the only possible ones. We took all these guys from the street after meeting them in the places where the latin background is more concentrated and most of them have somehow had a past linked to the gangs. This allowed to tell both the fictional story line and their real history.

https://www.bautismothemovie.com/

Check the trailer on Vimeo!

https://vimeo.com/254381579

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